Fairy Tail: Phoenix Rising
by Zentin
Summary: In their loss and despair, he appeared into their lives left for dead. Naruto, indebted to them, vowed to repay them. He becomes their teacher and friend, their strongest member. Three years pass, and lost friends return from their long sleep, but it becomes a sign that darkness is on the horizon. Naruto finds that the blade of justice must be picked up again so peace can be found.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: I do not own Fairy Tail or Naruto. The original characters that appear throughout story are mine, but Naruto and other characters from canon are owned by their respective authors.

This is a rewrite of Rising from the Ashes as I wasn't happy with several errors that I had missed after I published it the first time, including the original first chapter which I felt made the second chapter redundant, hence the reason for me removing it entirely. I don't have a beta reader, so I have to do all the editing by myself which is time consuming and frustrating because I go on tangents that never seem to get finished. I will try to do my best, as I have been brainstorming this story for a good several months now, but getting it on paper, as it is with most of my stories, is a real challenge for me.

 _Memory Days: Arrival_

 _Fairy Tail Guild- Three Years Ago_

 _The skies above Magnolia Town in the Kingdom of Fiore were normally sunny, but the occasional thunderstorm did occur every once in a while. In considering this, Guildmaster Macao Conbolt of the Fairy Tail guild thought it the perfect time to address the massive amounts of paperwork that needed to get done._

 _Though normally not one fond of thunderstorms, Macao was strangely soothed as he worked, hearing the rain pelt against the roof and the thunder roar outside. With the stressful situation that was now reality for Fairy Tail, including the massive amounts of debt and the lack of missions to pay the bills, Macao also had to deal with the constant harassment of the Twilight Ogre guild that prevented him from getting his work done. That being said, he really didn't want to be disturbed as everyone would be indoors on a day like today, including the goons from said_ _guild._

" _Master, come quick!" a man's voice frantically called from the tavern._

" _Not now Max, I'm busy! I have to get all this paperwork taken care of by the end of the day or the Magic Council will have my hide!" Macao shouted back as he sat at his desk which was covered with several stacks of files, documents, and papers that looked extremely important._

" _But Master, it's an emergency! Forget about the paperwork!" said mage peeked into Macao's office his eyes showing panic and frustration._

" _What?! I don't have time for this!" Macao got up angrily and stepped out into the tavern next to his office in the back, "What is the matter? I'm bus-…"His rant dying on his lips as he saw a severely injured blond haired man being carried in by two other mages, Alzack Connell and Warren Rocko. Both were soaking wet and breathing hard as they looked like they had run some distance carrying the man to the guild hall._

" _Oh my goodness! What happened to him?!" Laki Olietta, a pale skinned and lavender haired woman with glasses covered her mouth in surprise, her eyes wide in shock and horror as she and Alzack's wife, a green haired woman named Bisca rushed over to help the men carry the man inside._

" _Warren, who is that?!"Wakaba Mine, a brown haired man with a thick beard and smoking a cigar looked on worried as the other men carried the unconscious blond inside._

" _We don't know! We just found him along the side of the road! We couldn't very well leave him there to die especially in this weather!" Warren replied, his red, orange, and white ensemble was ruined with the mysterious stranger's blood._

" _Alzack, Warren, Max, lay him here on the table, quickly! Bisca, Laki get me the first-aid kit, some rags from the storeroom, and some hot water now!" Kinana, a dark violet haired woman with pale skin and wearing a mint green dress, directed them and began examining the mysterious blond haired man._

 _After several moments of Kinana examining him, Macao's son Romeo, a young boy around the age of ten, gazed on with worry, "Will he be okay?"_

 _Kinana hesitated before answering, "I… don't know to be honest…I'll do the best I can…he has several broken bones and lacerations across his entire body, and I can't tell if there are any internal injuries..."_

" _Just do the best you can," the guildmaster replied placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder. He turned to a tall, orange haired mage and ordered, "Jet, go to Porlyusica's house and tell her it's an emergency! Bring her back here even if you have to drag her here!"_

" _But…" the man's reluctance was obvious, and Macao very well knew why regarding her rather negative disposition towards humans, but now was not the time._

" _Now Jet!" the fire using mage growled out, and Jet rushed out at an unbelievable speed into the darkness and rain._

 _It was a long afternoon which soon turned to evening and then night for all of them. All of them wondered who the man was. Where did he come from? How did he get so badly injured? There were so many questions to be asked. Porlyusica did come, though she obviously wasn't happy about walking in the rain. She, along with Kinana, and Macao stayed the whole night at the guild, taking care of him._

 _In the very early hours of the morning, Porlyusica announced, "He's stable… for now anyway. Make sure this fool doesn't do anything too strenuous when he wakes up. For now, I leave him in your hands. Don't bother me again for a while…"and she packed up her things and proceeded to leave._

" _Umm…Ms. Porlyusica, thank you for coming to help. You saved his life."_

 _Porlyusica sighed in annoyance, but then seeing the grateful expression on Kinana's face instead replied, "You did very well, despite your inexperience in healing. Now I must go…"_

 _The younger woman blushed at the praise, and bowed slightly as the other woman left the guildhall. Macao sighed at the aloof veteran's demeanor, but turned to Kinana seeing that she was exhausted._

" _Kinana, you need your rest, go get some sleep. I can keep watch."_

" _But…"she hesitated, not wanting to leave her patient besides she had to open up the guild in a couple of hours._

 _Macao gave her a reassuring smile, "Don't worry, I'll handle opening up the guild, you just go get some sleep."_

" _Yes, sir."_

 _Magnolia Town-Today_

"Dad, where's my bag?! Romeo and I were going on a mission with Antonio and sensei as soon as he gets back!" a young girl called out with a annoyed frown on her face. She had chestnut brown locks of hair, and was wearing a white and yellow sun dress that showed off the developing beauty of a young girl growing into a young woman. She was currently looking underneath her bed, upon which she shuddered as she realized she definitely needed to clean out underneath as it was extremely cluttered.

"I wouldn't be too sure about that June! I didn't tell you what happened yesterday did I?" June's father's voice answered her from several rooms away.

His answer confused her, so she decided to give up on searching for her bag for a moment; she left her bedroom and found her father finishing getting dressed and ready to head to the guildhall. She asked with her eyebrows raised, "What do you mean, what's going on?" and then she remembered something from the night before, and she glared at Wakaba with her left hand on her hip, her right hand reaching for a particular object in her sundress' pocket, her wand. "Oh that's right, you weren't home until late last night! You didn't happen to be getting drunk and then perving on Laki and Kinana again were you?" She pointed her wand at her father threateningly.

The chain smoker and mage froze at the accusation, not that he was afraid of his daughter's very powerful and very dangerous _**Void Magic**_. No, he certainly was not afraid of her. "Uh…no of course not, June! Why would you think that?" But June continued pointing her wand at her father with a narrow eyed glare which spelled ominous and painful consequences if he was caught lying. Okay, maybe he was a little afraid…actually yes, he was man enough to admit that he was absolutely terrified when June got like this.

She narrowed her eyes at him, slapping her wand against her palm, showing a great amount of irritation, "Because I know you…Mom wants me to keep an eye on you while you're at the guild, remember?!" Yes, he did indeed remember. Ever since June joined Fairy Tail two years ago, that was the task her mother had placed upon her young shoulders. Cecilia Mine was well aware of her husband's perverted nature. She'd have to be blind and deaf not to notice, and so that's why she allowed June to join Fairy Tail even though June was still going to school. The prospect of becoming a better wizard was just an added bonus.

"Alright, fess up! What is it?" June smirked as she withdrew her wand when her father let out a nervous sweat drop. He was obviously terrified of her….Yep, she still had it.

With the withdrawing of her wand, Wakaba relaxed slightly and then he smiled, "You'd never believe me even if I told you…"

Raising her eyebrow inquisitively, "Okay…you have my attention now; you're never one for keeping secrets! Spill!"

He waved her off, "Sorry, no can do!" and he proceeded to head to the front door leaving for work.

Running up to him and grabbing onto his arm, she begged him to tell her, "Come on Dad, tell me! Please?!"

He laughed, his mouth lighting up in a huge grin, and it was then she noted that he seemed more at ease than he had been for a long, long time, "Wait until we get to the guild!"

Looking up at him thoughtfully, she asked, "Does Mom know?"

Wakaba smirked, but kept his mouth shut, "She does…I told her last night…That's why she's already there!"

This took June by surprise. Her mother was not a mage, but an owner of a small bookshop that was frequented by many members of Fairy Tail. Freed, Levy, Lucy, and Mirajane, four of the lost members of the guild were particularly common in being sighted browsing amongst her store's bookshelves. Unfortunately, Cecilia was extremely busy with her work, and rarely had time to visit her husband up at the guildhall, so for her to actually leave her beloved bookshop for the day meant something big had happened.

June responded to her father's comment with shock, "Mom's at the guild? Why? She never goes to the guild!"

He ruffled her hair affectionately, and then walked out the front door still smirking, "You'll see…come on, let's go!"

June was about follow him, but then remembered she had forgotten her bag, "But what about my bag?!"

"Don't worry about it! Come on!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

June's jaw had dropped. The sight of every single one of the lost members of Fairy Tail, who had disappeared seven years ago and had not changed or aged at all, were gathered around celebrating with their friends and loved ones in the only way Fairy Tail ever could- loudly, lively, and lovingly. June had been out of town yesterday, so that was why she missed the celebrations from the night before. Also there were most of those who had been left behind seven years ago. The only one absent from this group was Nab, and many of the newer members who joined within the past three years were all out on jobs. All in all, there were about twenty five to thirty people within the small tavern, making it quite loud and crowded.

"NO… FREAKING… WAY! How is this even possible?! They're…They're…!" the thirteen year old Void Mage, unable to finish speaking, stood there stammering incomprehensible mutterings.

"Hey Wakaba, good to see you!" welcomed the beautiful white haired S-class mage known as Mirajane Strauss. She along with her younger sister Lisanna and Kinana, were expertly balancing serving trays loaded with several beer mugs filled to the brim and delivering it to the various guild patrons. Seeing Wakaba's daughter gazing on in shock, Mirajane gained a nostalgic expression and smiled at her, "Is that June? It is! Long time no see! You certainly have grown up!"

"Mirajane?!" June could not believe it, but she rushed over and gave Mirajane a hug. Mirajane would often watch June when her mother was busy, but she wasn't at the guild nearly as often as Romeo was who was over nearly every day.

"See, I told you wouldn't believe me!" Wakaba roared in laughter heading over to where Macao and his wife were, taking his usual seat next to the fourth guildmaster at the front counter.

"Explain! Now! Please?!" June asked with tears of happiness in her eyes looking at her father and Macao from around the waist of the much taller woman.

Before Wakaba could answer, Laki spoke up from her corner by the stairwell as she confirmed what happened, "Master Bob's, Hibiki's, and Naruto's hypothesis turned out to be true!"

"It was?!" June's eyes widened. She, along with many of the others in the guild had managed to move on with Naruto's help, and most of the newer members since Naruto's recruitment were about to give up hope of ever seeing the lost members ever again, but deep down she knew her father and several others still maintained the hope that they would return, as unlikely the possibility was.

"Hypothesis? What are you talking about?" The Third Master asked, and the conversation around the room began to settle down as everyone began to listen in on what was being discussed.

Macao answered his predecessor, "Yeah, it was shortly after he came to the guild…Naruto enlisted the help of Blue Pegasus to figure out what happened when you guys disappeared. They were able to find irregularities in the field of magic around where Tenrou Island was. Naruto realized that some sort of space-time magic had been used, and Master Bob was able to confirm the existence of Fairy Sphere. This fit the description of a spell powerful and widespread enough for you to avoid being destroyed by Acnologia. So imagine our relief when they were able to confirm that you guys were most likely alive."

"So that's why you weren't particularly surprised during Master Mavis' speech…you already knew what happened!" The blue haired _**Solid Script**_ mage Levy McGarden exclaimed in realization.

"That's right!" and everyone turned to Alzack who had spoken up, but his voice then turned serious, "However, even we didn't know when you guys would be set free. You guys were very lucky according to Hibiki's calculations. The massive amount of magic used in powering the spell changed the length of time of its duration. It was not supposed to last nearly as long as it did. We were afraid you could have been frozen in time much, much longer, perhaps even forever."

The guild as a whole, silently chewed on that thought for a few moments, slightly scared that something like that could possibly happen. Not dying, but not living at all either, merely lost in time. A horrible existence that one could never escape…

It was Lucy who brought out everyone from their musings, "Okay…moving on to a more pleasant conversation topic, you were going to tell us more about this Naruto guy, right?"

Makarov picked up where Lucy had left off, "Where is he anyway? I would like to meet the man who saved our family…"

Cracking his knuckles, Natsu, always looking for a fight, grinned as he declared, "Yeah! I totally want to fight him; if he's amazingly strong as you guys are saying…I'm all fired up thinking about it!"

Behind him, a shirtless Gray Fullbuster sat next to a fawning Juvia Lockser, his hand waving over the glass of his choice of soft drink, causing the ice within to seemingly dance up and down within the glass. "I don't know Natsu….you might have to get in line!"

Turning to face his rival and teammate as he narrowed his eyes challengingly, Natsu growled, "Oh yeah, popsicle brain, you'll have to get through me first!"

Gray scoffed and stood up getting in Natsu's face, "Yeah right lizard breath, like you ever could take me on!"

"Say what?! You take that back!" and the two mages once again made entertainment for everyone else by dissolving into a fist fight right in the middle of the guildhall. However, before they could end up destroying the guildhall, Erza, ever the disciplinarian, grabbed them by their heads and smashed them together, causing them to comically collapse on the floor.

"That's enough you two! No more fighting!"

They groaned in pain, though both glared at the red-haired swordswoman causing everyone to laugh somewhat nostalgically, "Yes, Erza…."

Wakaba laughed with the others, "Oh yeah, this brings me back! But to answer your question he's out on a mission with Warren and Doranbolt, or you should call him Mest Gryder right now. He should be back soon, as apparently they got finished early yesterday afternoon. They were at the train station in Toria Heights buying tickets for the ride back which is a day's journey at its shortest."

"Doranbolt?" Natsu asked thinking over why the name seemed so familiar in his head until he remembered, "Wait a minute, that guy's from the Magic Council! He infiltrated to get dirt on Fairy Tail!"

Macao smiled somewhat sadly as he remembered what happened to the man after the disappearance of Tenrou Island, "You're right…he did...but he ended up joining because Naruto invited him. Gryder spent two years investigating what happened to you guys, long after everyone else gave up. Naruto had taken Warren on the first big job that we had in four years. It was worth five million jewels investigating some disappearances of civilians in Kennicksburg, which turned out to be kidnappings by a dark guild. We weren't going to screw it up, so I sent Naruto, and he asked for Warren to come along. Along the way, they found Gryder depressed, guilty, and trashed drunk in a bar. Naruto confronted him, and then invited him to help out. Gryder ended up joining the guild after the mission, and the rest is history. They're currently our best team right now…"

"WHAT?! No way!" several shouts of disbelief came from around the room.

"That Naruto, I swear it's strange. He helps people in ways they don't even realize. You'll have to see it to believe it, but the first thing you have to understand about him is that he has a unique power that goes beyond any of his magic." The orange haired speed wizard named Jet added his own input.

"Huh? What do you mean?" asked Mirajane as she handed another mug filled with beer to the orange haired mage and his two teammates Droy and Levy.

Jet smirked deviously as he raised the mug to his lips, turning his attention to his black haired teammate, "He gets people to want to change themselves, to become better than what they are. For example, Droy what did Naruto make you do?"

Growling angrily, Droy glared at Jet, daring the man to continue in the telling of what he was up to during the seven year separation, "Dang it Jet! Do you really have to put me on the spot like that?!"

Jet continued smirking, very much enjoying the rise he was getting out of his best friend, "Yes, yes I do. Do I need to bring out the pictures?"

The muscular black haired wizard's eyes widened in horror, showing extreme amounts of panic at the mention of the particular photographs that he had personally disposed of, or at least thought he disposed of, "Where are they, I thought I destroyed them all?!"

On the other side of the room, the pictomage Reedus brought out a certain photo album seemingly from nowhere, "Here they are Jet!"

Droy went immediately into damage control mode and made an effort to grab said album and hoping to put an end to all of its incriminating glory. "Seize the evidence! Levy can't see those pictures! She'll laugh at me forever!"

Max called out as Reedus passed the album to him, "No way! Keep away from Droy!" and thus began an epic game of keeping the said pictures away from a very ticked off Plant Mage. Max in turn passed it on to Laki, who passed it on to Jet, who passed it on to Kinanna, who passed it on to Vijeeter, who passed it on to Natsu, who then dropped it, but it landed right in the lap of one Iron Dragon Slayer, Gajeel Redfox…who began cackling insanely as he opened it to have a look.

"Gahahahahaha! Look at you! You're so fat! You totally blimped out!" Gajeel laughing at Droy's expense and the missing members crowded around and began staring at the pictures in shock.

"Whoa, that's bad…" replied Gray, his eyebrows hidden by his spiky black hair in surprise.

"No way…" Lucy and Lisanna, being more polite than some of their other guild members, many of whom were following Gajeel's example in laughing hysterically at the poor mage, opted to just to stare to compare the images of Droy and Nab from what they remembered seven years ago.

In the photos, Droy weighed over three hundred pounds, drastically different compared to his very thin frame seven years before. Nab, who was strangely absent, was nowhere near as heavyset as Droy, but still significantly and unhealthily overweight. However, looking over at Droy now, you couldn't even tell he'd ever been that fat, as the fat all had been replaced with rock-hard muscle.

"That particular picture I believe was taken four years ago. Huh, I wondered where those pictures went. Good job Reedus." Wakaba grinned, patting the artist mage on the back.

"Thank you, I do my best." The artist and mage replied proudly, pounding his fist against his chest while Droy glared at him angrily.

Levy sighed, shaking her head at Droy in exasperation, "Oh Droy, it isn't that bad," upon saying this she received some very incredulous looks from several members of the guild, "Besides, I know you too well. You always eat when you're depressed. Besides you look pretty good now. Did Naruto train you?"

"Actually, he trained all of us to some extent…" Max replied which then caused him to shiver in some sort of unspeakable terror where he then muttered, "I never want to go through his crazy training again." From those who were left behind during the seven years, excluding Macao, Reedus, and Wakaba who all grinned as they were the only ones who were not put through hell, the same shiver of terror and fear was shared with great intensity.

After the feeling had passed, Vijeeter stopped his celebratory dance routine and exclaimed, "Yeah, he even got Nab to go on missions!"

A pin could be heard amongst the silence caused by that statement, which lasted for a good three seconds before a disbelieving exclamation was expressed loudly, "WHAT?!"

In response, Alzack rejoined the conversation which he and Bisca had been ignoring as they were paying more attention to their daughter Asuka, "I don't know what he said, but apparently he and Nab had a long private discussion, and from then on Nab's stupid mentality on finding the perfect mission for himself had been changed, and he started going on missions again. That's why Nab's not here. Actually, he's been on a mission for about a week now…"

Gajeel slammed his fist against the round table, getting frustrated that they had been talking for several minutes now, but no one seemed to want to ask the most important question, "So how powerful is this guy really? And don't you dare dodge the question this time! You guys have been avoiding that question since last night!"

In response, Gajeel received several uncomfortable looks, "What?"

"Well to be honest, we're unsure on how to answer it. Only when he's in a serious fight, or training does he use his true magic at all, if we can call it that. So to be totally honest, I don't think we can even begin to understand how powerful he really is because with the exception of Warren, Gryder, and maybe Antonio, none of us have actually seen Naruto fight at all." Bisca murmured in reflection of the blond haired man.

"You don't know what type of magic he uses?" the water mage Juvia asked, a curious expression on her pale complexion.

Jet and Droy looked at each other, their gazes nervous and uncertain on how to answer, "We do know a little bit. If he had to specialize in something then his _**Clone Magic**_ would be it because that's what he uses the most around us, that and his _**Seals**_."

"He knows _**Rune Magic**_?!" Freed and Levy exclaimed, both very experienced in the usage of _**Rune Magic**_ and understood _**Sealing Magic**_ as a sub-branch. However, Jet shook his head at their mistaken thinking that Naruto's _**Seals**_ were the same.

"No, it's not _**Runes**_ or _**Sealing Magic**_. It's _**Seals**_. They work a bit differently than _**Rune Magic**_. Naruto can explain it better than we can."

While everyone was still recovering from the last bomb on Naruto's abilities, Lucy asked for everyone's benefit, as most of them had never heard of it, "What's _**Clone Magic**_?"

Master Makarov rubbed his chin in deep thought as he spoke, "It's an incredibly useful and rare magic, but also very taxing on the reserves. A _**Thought Projection**_ is a form of _**Clone Magic**_ but most copies of the user are much less stable. Most users can make at most a dozen before they exhaust themselves and are limited because they can't use any other magic because a person's reserves are divided amongst the clones evenly, thus making their magic weaker. But this Naruto is definitely interesting; not only can he use _**Clone Magic**_ , he can actually use it effectively enough to use other forms of magic at the same time?"

Max crossed his arms and smirked, "Effectively is putting it mildly Master."

"Huh? What do you mean?" the formerly missing members of Fairy Tail asked in confusion.

A moment passed where those who had been left behind glared at Max for not being more specific, before looking at each other with more uncertainty. Finally, Alzack rubbed his forehead as if a migraine had set in all of a sudden before he answered bluntly, "We don't know what Naruto is entirely capable of because he is able to form a couple hundred easily."

" _ **A-A couple hundred?!**_ " Makarov spit out his beer, chocking on the alcoholic drink in shock and surprise, causing everyone to show concern for their aging Third Master. Fairy Tail's Ace, Gildarts, who used _**Crash Magic**_ , gained an interested expression.

"This guy is sounding pretty interesting! Maybe I'll take him on!" Obviously, this caused many uncomfortable looks to appear on the faces amongst the more sane members of the guild, including Gildart's recently revealed eighteen year-old daughter, Cana.

"Please don't; you'd cause the end of the world if you did!" Cana muttered with frustration over her father's devil-may-care attitude, the normally touched barrel (yes barrel) of alcohol still filled to the brim showed how curious she herself was about the guild's new powerhouse, well, new to her and the other lost members anyway.

"Nah you old man, I'll be the one take him on!" Laxus gave a shark-like grin showing he was also very interested in fighting the man.

Laxus' former teammates, the Thunder Legion which included Bickslow, Freed, and Evergreen, started cheering for him, "Yeah! Go Laxus! Go Laxus! Goooo!"

Natsu glared at them, angry that they wanted to fight Naruto, complained, "Hey that's not fair! I was the one who called dibs on fighting him first!"

Gajeel and Gray glared at the pink, or I should say salmon-haired dragonslayer, challenging him by cracking their knuckles as a show of intimidation, "Oh yeah? What are you gonna do about it?"

The situation only got worse when Elfman raised up his arms shouting out his trademarked phrase, "He sounds like he's a real man! I'll be the one to take him on!" and from there the room devolved into a regular brawl of thrown punches, lots of testosterone, thrown beer mugs, and broken tables. That is, until Natsu smashed right into Erza, causing her face to hit her plate which held her precious strawberry shortcake with whipped cream frosting. Immediately, all action in the guild stopped.

"You idiots smashed my cake!" and from there the situation in the guild truly fell apart as Erza punished all of them, bringing out her swords to bring about justice for destroying her favorite food. As a result, where before, the situation was a normal guild fight, now the situation was complete and utter chaos.

"Why do you idiots always have to destroy the guildhall whenever you fight?!" Makarov and Macao wept as one as the two masters saw the guildhall be reduced to complete rubble.

Regardless, the situation was distracting enough for everyone to miss a new face walking into the guild. He was a teenager, looking to be about thirteen, but something told you that he was actually older. He had short, dark brown, almost black hair, and bright blue eyes. He was wearing heavy black combat boots, blue jeans, and a white t-shirt underneath a blood red vest. The vest bore a Flamel symbol* on the right breast pocket. As he approached, he held up his hand in greeting, "Hey guys, what's going-…what the HELL?!" His eyes wide and his voice exploded causing everyone, including Erza, to freeze.

"Oh Antonio, you're back…" Macao greeted the young man with a wave and seemed to sigh in relief as Antonio's very presence stopped everyone for a moment in their brawl.

Antonio looked at the perpetrators who were destroying the guild with an apathetic stare, though his voice's tone told he was quite frustrated with them, "I was gone for a week…I was gone for a week after I spent seven and a half hours drawing completely new alchemy arrays to fix the guild after the last fight you had, and you all just messed it up... _again_. That's just great."

Droy sweatdropped and he raised an eyebrow at the hypocritical nature of the teen's statement and muttered, "Uh...Tony that's just you and June...not us..."

Tony glared at him accusingly, "What was that?!"

Droy froze, not intending that statement to be heard, "Nothing! Nothing at all!"

The teenager sighed, and apologized, not meaning to snap at Droy for his comment, after all he knew it was _true_ , "Sorry, I'll do my breathing exercises and try to calm down…"

He was about toto proceed, that was until one Iron Dragonslayer decided to question the newcomer while commenting on the teen's lack of height. "Hey, who's the short kid?"

Absolute silence, then panicking, Macao dashed over to the black haired dragonslayer and got on his hands and knees begging dramatically, "Gajeel, quick! Apologize now!" But it was too late…

To the resignation of everyone who knew him for the past year and to the horror of those who would quickly become acquainted with him, Tony exploded in a volcanic rage, "How dare you call me a short little pipsqueak, you jerk! What the hell is the matter with you?! Do I look like a half-pint midget to you, huh?!" In a flash of _**Requip Magic**_ , in Antonio's hands appeared not swords, not a gun, not a knife or bow, but two metal baseball bats, and he marched right over to the much taller mage screaming every word.

Gajeel smirked, not intimidated in the least, and answering the much shorter boy with an annoying, almost condescending drawl, "Actually…" He didn't finish his sentence when all of a sudden the teen somehow caused a flash of lightning to occur around his hands and then attacked catching the older man off guard, "Ouch! What the hell?!"

Tony continued to attack relentlessly, forcing the Iron Dragonslayer to defend himself, only to realize that the teen's baseball bats were now shaped into maces, "I'LL SHOW YOU LITTLE! _**GRAND SLAM**_!" and with all of his strength he smashed Gajeel forcing him to transform his arm into iron scales. Surprisingly, Tony managed to push the larger man back about five feet.

"He's scary!" Happy screamed, crying fearful tears hoping that Tony wouldn't turn his rage on him.

Gajeel grinned like a shark, transforming his entire arm into a black studded steel pole, "Not bad you little brat, but playtime's over, prepare to be squashed!"

"I'm fifteen, you dolt! I'm not a little brat! I'm still growing!"

June on the other side of the room muttered exasperatedly, "You wouldn't be so short if you just drank your milk!"

Antonio glared even more irately at the younger girl, causing those who were watching to wonder how that was even possible, "Shut up June! I don't have to drink if I don't want to! Milk is for babies!"

Gajeel snorted, "Well you're sure acting like one, shorty!"

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" and then once again a brawl took place as the others welcomed the dark haired boy with open fists.

While the guild was further reduced to rubble by the bar fight, Freed somehow managed to creep away from the chaos and approached Fairy Tail's Third Master, "Master, that boy's magic…"

Looking over at the green haired wizard understanding his concern, "Yes, I know… That was _**Battle**_ _**Alchemy**_ wasn't it? The ability to reshape matter and energy into anyway one desires…You would know to recognize it as it's a rune-based magic…If I hadn't seen the _**Transmutation Circles**_ engraved into his baseball bats, I would have assumed they were imbued with lacrima that would cause the transformation or thought it was some sort of _**Transformation Magic**_."

The Fourth Guildmaster sighed as he watched the chaos tilting his head slightly to the right to expertly avoid a thrown beer mug, "Yeah, that's Antonio or as he likes to be called, Tony. He's the son of the late Dr. Davíd Rivera, you know the world famous alchemist? Tony is admittedly a genius, though most blame that as influence from his father, but there's more to it than just that. Antonio is normally a pretty nice guy, just really sensitive about his lack of uh… height." Macao sighed again in resignation as he explained why Tony was rampaging, "Gajeel just committed the guild's newest ultimate taboo by calling him the 's' word. He joined the guild a little over a year ago."

Lucy muttered, her tone showing she was almost annoyed with all these proverbial bombs were being dropped because of the same person, "Let me guess…Naruto also had something to do with this story?" How much change could one guy cause?

Apparently a lot because Wakaba then confirmed, "Sort of, well actually yes, though that's a story for another time…Antonio seems to be responding well, we were wondering what would happen when he came in first contact with you guys!"

Lucy got in the smoke mage's face, demanding an explanation, "This kid has a hotter temper than Natsu, and you say he's responding well?!"

Holding up a finger for a moment to explain, hoping to calm the beautiful Celestial Mage down, "Well, we're just thankful he has the ability to fix almost everything he destroys!"

Erza at this point had enough with all the fighting and a demonic red aura surrounded her, "This is getting way out of hand…you idiots need to stop fighting _**now**_!" In an instant, most of the guild stopped their brawl with the exception of Natsu, Gray, Gajeel, and Tony. Erza was about to take care of them personally, but June called out reaching for her pocket and pulling out her wand.

"Don't worry Master, Erza, I've got this!" Erza stopped surprised that June wanted to help and was about to say no until Macao reluctantly nodded to June.

"June, don't hurt them too bad…and please keep the damage to the guild as minimal as possible!" but knowing where this would eventually end up, he got up and started walking up to the staircase in the back, "I'm going to bathroom...please for the love of all things don't destroy the guildhall beyond repair this time!"

June smiled wide and devious, but nodded nonetheless, "I won't make any promises, but I'll try!"

Lucy, not wanting her to get hurt, stood to stop her, "Wait! What is she doing?!"

Cecelia Mine, who had just watched the guild's normal craziness with practiced ease, placed her hand on Lucy's shoulder and motioned the blonde haired _**Celestial Mage**_ to watch her daughter show off a little bit of her magic, "Just watch…"

A strange white glow began surrounding her as she stepped forward to deal with the four remaining fighters, her tone meaning business, "Put a sock in it you idiots and stop fighting!"

Tony, so enraged about being called short, continued wrestling with Gajeel, "No way! He called me smaller than a midget, baby beansprout! HE MUST PAY! I WILL HAVE MY VENGENCE!"

Gajeel held Tony down, his considerable strength easily holding Tony down, "Well, that's cause you are, shrimp!"

Clapping his hands together, Tony forced Gajeel back as sparks of blue energy activated the _**Transmutation Circles**_ on his baseball bats and he transformed them into midnight black blades, and attacked Gajeel, forcing the man to parry with his _**Iron Dragon Demon Sword**_ , "You backwater, mangy metal head! I WILL USE MY CONSIDERABLE POWERS TO VANQUISH YOU!"

Gray, while wrestling with Natsu, just looked on Gajeel and Tony with amusement. "Wow, they're even worse than us…"

Natsu scoffed at this, "As if Ice Queen, no one can be as lame as you…"

Gray glared, insulted by the comment from his rival (best friend), "What was that Firebreath?!"

Natsu punched him in the face, "Clean the ice out of your ears, Snow Stripper! I said you're lame!" and he then realized that once again, Gray was in his boxers, "And put some clothes on!"

Shocked at his mysterious loss of his clothes, Gray screamed, "Gahh, how the heck did that happen?!"

Being ignored, however, caused June to clench her fists in anger, and as a result she unconsciously began releasing magic power which froze Tony in his spot in fear, while Gray Natsu, and Gajeel continued to duke it out, " _ **YOU GUYS**_...!"

Droy and Jet realized it was too late for them to intervene, as much as they might want to help, and said gloomily, "Oh no, they're in for it now…"

Max, also became depressed when he realized what was going to happen, whined in a broken voice, "She's going to wreck the guildhall again…"

Realizing he was about to be punished for not listening, Tony begged frantically, "Wait! I'll be good! Please don't do it! June, have mercy!"

Not intimidated by the little brown haired girl in the slightest, Gajeel teased Tony, "Wow, you really are a baby!"

Tony in a combination of fear and anger, not bothering to defend himself from the younger girl's wrath, and stuttered, "Shut up, you jackass Neanderthal! And thanks to you we're getting-"

At that moment, June breathing heavily in her anger, had had enough of the boys fighting and pointed her wand directly at them, a ball of glowing white and rainbow colored energy forming which caused Natsu, Gray, and Gajeel to begin seeing why Tony was so afraid of her, " _ **Void Magic: Explosion Force**_!" and she released the built up magic energy that she had accumulated in one giant burst which sent the four men flying out of the guild hall and into the sky, screaming like little girls all the way.

Most of the A-teams who had been been in suspended animation just stared at the young girl in shock for several long moments, not even bothering to comment on the massive, giant hole she had made in regards to the punishing of the four mages. For the older members, there was a strange sense of deja vu as they were eerily reminded of two other girls who were just as destructive and prone to rages when they were younger. As one, both old and new members, left behind and lost, the guild stared at said women Erza and Mirajane with disgruntled and annoyed looks on their faces.

"What?" they asked innocently.

In reply, everyone resentful because of another excessive guild enforcer exclaimed, "You're bad influences! She's just like you two!"

In response, the two women complained at being blamed for June's abilities and magic,"Its not our fault!" and they immediately turned their heads to guild's resident smoke-using mage and pointed. "He's the one who allowed her to learn magic!"

With everyone staring at him now somewhat murderously, Wakaba tried to explain himself,"Again, a side effect caused by Naruto! It's not my fault!"

June smirked deviously, loving that her father was in trouble,"It's all your fault, Dad! After all I wouldn't have learned magic if you didn't insist on being a pervert!"

Wakaba started crying dramatic tears because of his daughter's indifference to his plight, "How can you say something like that about your loving father?!"

June deadpanned, over emphasizing Wakaba's flaws, "BECAUSE ITS TRUE!" and father and daughter began once again having their own argument over Wakaba's parenting techniques.

Happy looked up in the sky, the blue cat with the white tail now terrified of June, "She sent Natsu flying away…"

Next to him Carla, a totally pure white Exceed wearing a red and yellow dress, had frowned and crossed her arms disapprovingly,"Well they kind of deserved it…they were being highly inappropriate after all."

The final member of the Exceed trio, Pantherlily, a black cat who had a small sword attached to his waist, nodded his head, "Agreed, though June's actions may have not of been the best idea….this hole in the wall seems a bit... excessive."

Hearing footsteps coming down the staircase, everyone turned their heads as Macao called from above,"June! I thought I told you to keep the damage as minimal as possible?!"

June huffed in frustration, replying sarcastically as she explained the need for her actions, "Well I'm sorry! Erza said it was getting out of hand, and I figured this was the quickest way to end the fight! Besides, you can ask Tony to fix it later!"

Macao's eye twitched at her nonchalance about the guild's currently damaged state, "That's not the point!"

June complained, demanding to know why Macao wasn't happy with the results of getting the boys to stop fighting,"Then what is it?! You know those guys won't stop unless you use some serious force to get them to cut it out!"

It was then Cana muttered from around her raised beer mug as she gulped down the alcoholic confection,"Yeah, but now that Natsu knows you can do that, he's going to be begging you for a fight..."

June froze, realizing that perhaps her actions were a bit excessive, and then screamed, "AAAAAHHH! HOW COULD I HAVE BEEN SO STUPID?!" causing everyone with the exception of Lucy and Wendy to laugh at the brown haired girl as she freaked out dramatically.

In resignation, Lucy asked the younger, blue haired dragonslayer,"How come even after seven years, you and I are still saner than everyone else in the guild?"

Wendy replied, equally resigned to the fact that they were both part of a guild filled with freaks and weirdos,"Good question…"

 _Meanwhile at Magnolia Station…_

Mest declared as he, Naruto, and Warren walked out of the Magnolia Train Station, "It's great to be home!" After an overnight ride from the Toria Heights on the far east end of Fiore, the group had finally made it back to their hometown without much trouble.

Warren replied with a relieved sigh, "Yeah, it'll be good to kick back and relax. I think that I'll stick around the guildhall for a couple of days, and then take a vacation to see my parents…What about you Naruto?"

Unlike the other two, Naruto remembered something, a particular promise to go on a mission with a certain threesome, and he immediately replied depressed over the fact that unlike his two teammates he would not be able to relax, "I'm going on another mission…"

His two teammates looked at him in confusion until they realized why he was going on another mission so soon, "Oh, June and Romeo cornered you didn't they? Ouch!"

Naruto replied, a resigned smile on his whiskered face, "Uh-huh, and to make matters worse, Tony's coming along too…"

His teammates cringed, and Wakaba replied in trying to comfort the blond ex-shinobi, "Double ouch! Why didn't you say no?"

In a depressed monotone, Naruto replied, "Because I'm interested in their progress, and Macao asked me to. He's asking me to oversee the effectiveness of their teamwork, remember? He's thinking of them representing Fairy Tail for this year's Grand Magic Games."

Surprised that Macao was actually thinking ahead towards the now yearly anticipated event nearly four months away, Warren asked,"Really? Are you going to participate?"

The blond haired man sighed, "I would prefer not to, but considering after what happened last year with Tony's Dad and leading to the fact that we didn't even participate, Macao might have a limited list of willing participants."

Warren replied with a grin,"Well, you never know. You have been working everyone into the ground, especially Jet and Droy. Jet's speed has increased a hundredfold since you gave him those gravity seals and who knows what else, and Droy was apprenticed to _you know who_ , so we definitely have people who could take us far this year."

Naruto muttered in a low tone, "You guys could participate…" Mest and Warren both had made it clear that they didn't particularly like the Grand Magic Games. However, Mest didn't like the games because he was suspicious about the event due to its mysterious origins, and that every year that he had attended, he felt this malevolent magic that somehow reminded him of a certain dark wizard he had met right before Tenrou Island had vanished. However, since he had no way of proving it, he kept his suspicions to himself, opting to give the same excuse as Warren.

Warren answered his team leader's statement, "Nah. You know its not really our thing, and besides our magic is not really suited for the types of competitions that they choose, remember? The battle portion would leave the both of us at a disadvantage, especially against those guys from Sabertooth."

Naruto looked at his friend with slight exasperation over his assessment of their abilities,"True, but I still think you are underestimating yourselves. Warren, you know it's not necessarily the strongest fighters who win battles, but the ones who give it their all in the fight!"

Warren rolled his eyes, slightly annoyed at Naruto's battle wisdom. "Yeah, yeah…huh, uh what's that?" and they along with the townspeople around them looked up as they saw what looked to be a human meteor falling from the sky.

Mest sighed, exasperated with his guildmates knowing what exactly had happened, "Oh no…"

Warren also resigned to the fact that his guild was filled with fight happy idiots, asked rhetorically,"June blasted Tony again?"

The blond shinobi team leader nodded in confirmation,"Uh-huh…"

The former Rune Knight deadpanned at the obviousness of the situation, "Yep."

Shaking his head, Warren replied,"Wonderful, just wonderful."

Naruto pulled his teammates aside seeing that whoever it was, was about to land within five feet of them, "I think we better get out of the way…" and they retreated as sparks of blue lightning was seen coming out of the human rocket as it fell towards the ground.

The person who was about to land screamed, "INCOMING!", but the person was saved from serious injury when the ground transformed into a soft, powder, sand-like material. "Ouch!"

Naruto, knowing immediately who it was, approached the man made crater, and looked down with an annoyed glare, "Hi Antonio! Nice to see you dropping in… _again_."

Shocked and startled, Tony Rivera looked up at the face of the man who took him to Fairy Tail when his father died. "Sensei?! You're back! Whoa, oww!" he said as he tripped and fell as he attempted to climb out of the hole he had made.

With hands on his hips, Naruto pointed to the street. He was not going to pay for this! No way. " _Fix the street...!_ " and Tony looked sheepish.

Warren sighed, knowing the teen probably got into a fight with a certain brown haired girl,"Let me guess, June did that to you?"

Tony growled angrily, "Yeah, I ticked her off by fighting with some guy in the guildhall; he called me a tiny, midget, beansprout! Huh? Where'd he go?" and he looked around for the person he had been fighting, and realized that they must have been sent flying in different directions.

Mest facepalmed, well knowing that the boy had an incredible tendency to overreact over being insulted because of his height, "So he just called you the 's' word? Only in our guild…"

Naruto asked eyes narrowed his voice intimidating the brown haired teen, "Was it a client?"

Even though business was better than it had been three years ago, Fairy Tail was still nowhere near its former glory. Fairy Tail really needed clients, and it would have been bad if Tony had scared off business because of his actions, as he had done that before. It was only six months ago that Macao and the guild's business committee made the announcement that they were confident in the guild's financial state to start saving up money to buy back the original guildhall. Max, because of his business experience, was the guild's accountant, and estimated that it would take about 65 million jewels to buy back the original guildhall and restore it to its former glory. It was an expensive task, but well worth the cost that everyone had begun putting an effort into and they had so far raised five million jewels.

It would be quicker if they had someone to do S-class missions, but even with Naruto having the capability to do S-class missions, Fairy Tail's reputation still remained rather low because of the fact that they were one of the few guilds who hadn't participated in the Grand Magic Games. Also, considering the last time they participated and ended up dead last, Fairy Tail had still not regained the respect and prestige it once had. Thankfully, Naruto and his team received the occasional mission from the Magic Council and the Rune Knights, although they were reluctant considering they still held great dislike for the rambunctious magical guild.

An annoyed Tony replied as he thought about what happened to the guildhall while he was gone on his mission, completely unaware of Naruto's thoughts about Fairy Tail's financial state, "Heck if I know. There were a bunch of people there in the guild today, a lot of whom I didn't recognize, but several of them were fighting and messing up the guildhall, _again_." He pulled out a piece of chalk and began drawing a _**Transmutation Circle**_ in front of the crater before clapping his hands and activating it. In a few short moments, the cobblestone street that had been used as a landing pad for the alchemist mage returned to its former state as if nothing happened to it, with only the slightest markings that _**Alchemy**_ had been used.

Mest raised an eyebrow inquisitively,"Wait, fighting? So it wasn't just you and June this time?"

Tony glared at Mest in protest, "Not funny Mest." But he then crossed his arms as he looked up in thought, still confused about the newcomers, "Yeah, everyone was having a beat down in the middle of the guildhall when I arrived! They stopped when I came in, but then that jackass had to go call me short, and I got ticked off at him. Then June blasted us into the stratosphere for fighting..."

"Hold on a second! Did any of those guys have pink hair?!" Warren's eyes widened when he realized that there hadn't been such a big fight since the disappearances seven years ago.

Looking at the _**Telepathy**_ using mage, Tony thought about it for a moment, rubbing his chin, "Pink hair? Now that you mention it, yeah one guy did. The jerk I was taking down had all these piercings around his body and really creepy red eyes though…why do you know them?" but as soon as he confirmed what Warren had asked him, the man had dashed off leaving the others behind him in a rush.

Surprised at the unusual behavior of the brown haired wizard, "Hey! Warren, what's wrong?!"

"I think I know what happened…" Naruto replied as he crossed his arms, wondering if it was a good thing or a bad thing.

Mest confirmed it was probably a bad thing for their sanity. A good thing that they were back emotionally as many still missed the lost members dearly, but definitely a bad thing for Fiore's infrastructure,"So, they finally have returned, just like you said they would! The Council is not going to be happy about this!"

Naruto began walking with Mest leaving his student behind in great confusion, "Great! Given the stories that everyone has been telling me about them, I have a bad feeling that the Council is going to be ticked off at me for the destruction!"

"It'll be okay Naruto, chances are they're going to be just as mad at me too! We'll figure something out!" Mest patted his shoulder comfortingly.

"You mean that?!" Naruto exclaimed in gratitude.

Mest smirked at him, and Naruto immediately glared at him,"Hell no! You're on your own! It'll be payback for all the torture you've put us through!" He should have known that Mest would do something like that, leaving him out to the dogs to be eaten alive.

"Torture?!" The former shinobi turned mage glared at his teammate angrily, demanding an explanation, "You jerk! Everything that I've done for you and the rest of the guild has been for your benefit! It's not my fault that you guys have no self-control! After all, you're the one who decided to use that remote-controlled lacrima bomb that if I may remind you, nearly destroyed the historical district in Oak Town! Macao was ready to murder me!"

The former Rune Knight turned private investigator and mage questioned smirked even wider at his team leader,"Oh really, and who gave me those lacrima bombs in the first place? In fact, who invented them?!"

Naruto sighed reluctantly at his blunder by giving the brown haired man said explosives,"Yes, I admit that I invented them, but I specifically told you and thought you had the sense to only use them in areas that no one would mind the destruction caused! I got chewed out for _five hours_ because of the mess you made!"

Mest simply replied as he walked on ahead,"You're the team leader, and as such you are indirectly responsible for the incident and for inventing such useful yet destructive objects…"

The blond man shouted at his subordinate, "That's crap and you know it! Get back here so I can teach you some proper manners!"

Holding both his hands up in mock surrender, the memory manipulator replied in a tone that he was not at all afraid of the blond haired man,"Oh, I am so scared!" and Mest ran off teleporting away from both the blond and his student.

Growling angrily once again, Naruto began laughing an evil laugh as he rubbed his hand together and plotted against him,"Dang it Mest, I'll get you for this! Oh yes, be prepared, for your doom is nigh! Believe it! You have unleashed the prankster from hell, muahahahaha!" and he too ran off leaving Tony on his own.

As this was all happening, Tony still had no idea what was going on, and he called out, "Can someone please tell me what's going on?!"

Flamel Symbol, Alchemy, and Antonio- the Flamel symbol is the traditional symbol that represents alchemy. It is a cross wrapped up within a snake underneath a crown with wings.

Alchemy or rather Battle Alchemy is borrowed from Fullmetal Alchemist. There are going to be slight differences which will be explained, but generally the effects are the same, and Antonio's story will hopefully eventually play out.

Void Magic, Wakaba, and June- Void Magic is borrowed from the Familiar of Zero. Its properties are mysterious and varied, being able to cause explosions, teleport, and even erase people's memories. Such is June's power. Her focus is her wand, but it is still Caster Magic because its coming from her body even though she's using a magical item. The wand is the focus for her magic, and although she can use her power wandlessly, its much more stable with the wand than without it. You'll definitely see what I mean in later chapters.


	2. Chapter 2

_**I do not own Naruto or Fairy Tail or any other anime/manga used in this story. They are the respective property of their authors' and publishers' who are much more creative than I am, and make much more than I probably ever will…any thing that is mine you will know, so please respect my rights as an author and do not plagiarize my work.**_

xxxxxxxx

Naruto had gone home to get a change of clothes and take a shower, so he was all alone when he approached the wooded area that was Fairy Tail's current location. A feeling of nervousness clouded his normal cheerful persona as he approached the guildhall with slight caution as he really didn't want to be the center of attention. When he was younger he was desperate for it considering he was ignored by almost everyone in the Hidden Leaf Village, but meeting all of the returning members, the apprehension of being rejected, something Naruto knew he would carry for the rest of his life, was still there after all this time.

As he approached the guildhall, Naruto quickly noted the gaping hole that still hadn't been repaired after June's rampage on sending Tony and whoever else flying. He sighed, he really needed to have a talk with her. Even with Tony's _**Alchemy**_ , the guildhall wouldn't last much longer with such makeshift repairs and was bound to collapse sooner or later.

Taking a deep breath, he walked into the guildhall tavern, and for a moment everyone seemed to be distracted with one another. Warren was hanging off of the pink haired teen Tony described earlier, both who were catching up with huge grins on their faces. Naruto recognized him from some of Reedus' paintings and photos stored in the guild archives as the _**Fire Dragonslayer**_ , Natsu Dragneel., a mage known for his ability to control fire on a destructive level that almost always resulted in massive amounts of property damage. Even seven years later, Naruto heard that there were still places that were rebuilding after one of his rampages.

Next to Natsu was his teammate Gray Fullbuster, a teen with black hair and was wearing no shirt who, if Naruto remembered correctly, used _**Ice Make**_ magic and if the strange stories everyone told him were to be believed, Gray had a really bad habit of unconsciously taking of his clothes due to his training in using _**Ice Make**_ , often ending up naked.

Standing on the other side of Gray, was Lucy Heartfilia, a blonde haired beauty wearing a blue and white shirt and a blue short-skirt. Lucy was able to use powerful _**Celestial Spirit Summoning**_ magic, having _ten_ of the one of a kind legendary gold Zodiac keys, which summoned the Celestial beings that represented the Elliptical Zodiac. It was also rumored that Lucy was currently the most powerful _**Celestial**_ _ **Spirit**_ wizard in the entire world, not just because of her ownership of the Zodiac keys, but because she was also able to access the rarer ability of _**Celestial Spirit**_ _**Caster Magic**_ in the form of the legendary _**Urano Metoria**_ spell. It was clear that her potential was still largely untapped.

Next to Lucy, the sole S-class member of the so called "Team Natsu", the red-haired swordswoman Erza Scarlet, the woman with a hundred different armors that she could _**Requip**_ in, in which she could change into in mere seconds, allowing her to perform many different incredible magical and physical feats rightfully earning her the name of "Titania- Queen of the Fairies". She was known far and wide as a master of weapons to the point where it was often thought that she was inhuman.

The final member of their team was Wendy Marvel, and she was sitting with June and Romeo at a table nearby, probably because for once she was around people around the same age as her. She was the team's healer, and one of the few people who was capable of using true _**Healing Magic**_ which was associated with her _**Sky Dragonslayer Magic**_. Wendy was shy and kind, and although quite young, she was also an accomplished Fairy Tail Mage.

Naruto observed Warren from afar, as the _**Telepathy**_ wizard celebrated his friends' return, causing the blond haired man to smile slightly. He stopped for several moments to reminisce himself, and painful memories before Fairy Tail soon came to mind, making his shake his head quickly as he banished them from his mind.

"NO! That's in the past! You've accepted you can't go back! So move on!" Naruto berated himself as he thought about his home. He continued to look around the room allowing his eyes to wander until he caught sight of Mest.

Mest was talking with a short-statured, white haired and balding old man who Naruto recognized as the Third Master of Fairy Tail, Wizard Saint, and master of the legendary _**Titan Magic**_ , Makarov Dreyar. From what Naruto had been told by the others, he was definitely a grandfather and father figure for many of the members in the guild, and looked upon all of them as his precious children. Naruto assumed that they were discussing recent business with the Magic Council, a topic that Naruto's team would eventually have to discuss given recent rumors.

Naruto hoped that he could remain unnoticed, at least until he could sit down and order a drink and some ramen from Kinana, but his anonymity was short lived when Romeo and June looked over in his direction and grinned calling out to him, "Sensei!" and they ran over to him eagerly in greeting him.

Grabbing him hard around the waist and embracing him in a tight hug, June mumbled into his shirt, the brown haired girl showing she was quite pleased with his return to the guild, "We missed you..."

The fourth guildmaster's son looked at the sky blue-eyed ninja with fond exasperation, "Yeah! You guys were gone like forever!"

With raised eyebrows, Naruto looked at his students curiously, wondering when the two had become so attached to him, "Relax, it was only for two weeks, stop exaggerating!"

Childishly, the young _**Void Mage**_ countered her older brother figure's statement, looking into his eyes with annoyance and impatience, "Uh-uh...it seemed like forever! I mean how long does it take to take care of a stupid dark guild?! You skipped on training _again_!"

Naruto sighed, rubbing the back of his neck as he responded to his two students, "To do it right, it should have taken longer, but Lahar said that he would take care of the rest, so we got to leave early…"

At the mention of the Head Captain of the Custody Enforcement Unit for the Magic Council, June and Romeo's faces turned into sour pouts (June more so than Romeo) at being reminded of the man who, whenever he came to visit Mest, would lecture them for all the destruction that they would cause on jobs, "Oh...Lahar…"

Rolling his eyes, Naruto reprimanded them, knowing exactly what they thought about the glasses wearing Rune Knight, "Chill out you two, he's only doing his job…"

The brown haired Void Mage crossed her arms in frustration at the coming lecture that she knew that Naruto would give her, "Yeah right, then why is he always on my case?!" 

The missing members looked at the man as if he were absolutely insane (which was understandable, mind you, as they had just saw her blast open a giant hole within the guildhall over the fact that some people decided to ignore her). The blond shinobi sighed and placed his hands on his hips as he shook his head, "Probably because of what you just did, June. Tony was sent flying into the stratosphere and somehow landed right in front of us as we were leaving the train station. Care to explain?" Naruto asked this despite already knowing exactly what had happened even though he wasn't there. He knew her too well.

Protesting her sensei's insinuation and trying to placate his disappointment, June clenched her fists at her sides in defiance, believing she hadn't done anything wrong, "Master Macao said I could! Tony wouldn't stop fighting! And besides, Tony should be able to fix it!"

Not deterred in the slightest, Naruto responded with a raised eyebrow, causing her to flinch, "Uh-huh... June, you and I really need to talk about your reckless use of your magic...You can't just beat people up because they don't listen to you."

("Tell that to Erza…" Natsu and Gray muttered in the background, causing the said scarlet haired wizard to bash their heads into the ground with a single punch to the head.)

"I'm sorry, but Tony got angry because Gajeel called him short! What am I supposed to do about that?!" the thirteen year old brunette scowled angrily at him. Their rivalry was often a topic that Naruto had to address since no one else seemed to be insane enough to get in between the two. Despite the slight age difference and their relatively young age, many in the guild saw it as some sort of misplaced sexual tension.

Naruto sighed with his student's stubbornness, "You ignore him and let it go! I will be having the same conversation with Tony as well, but then again most of the fights in Fairy Tail are usually not seriously dangerous to a person's health, at least from what I've heard, just to the guildhall. Your magic on the other hand is…"

"I'm careful!" the brown haired mage protested with a look of disbelief on her face. She felt so betrayed. How could he say such things about her?! Her pout remained on her face, while those around her began snickering at the lecture she was receiving.

The blond haired man sighed and put a hand on her head, ruffling her hair, "I know you are, but you know I worry…after all, I don't want my cute little students being sent to jail or anything like that." he looked at her warningly, "If that happens you do realize what will happen, right?"

June continued to pout, but finally let up when the blond haired man embraced her in a hug. He was the only one who could somehow always get away with lecturing her, knowing for a fact that the man would just make things much more difficult during their training sessions.

Romeo grabbed the blond ninja's attention by sweeping his arms wildly around the room pointing out the return of the missing members."Oh yeah, check out what happened! Everyone came back while you were gone!" But a clearing of the throat from down below brought the trio's attention to the shorter Makarov who had approached them while Naruto was busy lecturing June. The look that Naruto was receiving was one that showed fond exasperation. Naruto guessed probably because of June's reckless destruction of the guildhall, but was so used to it being the longest running guildmaster that he took it all in stride.

Naruto sheepishly rubbed the back of his head as he acknowledged the aging Third Master's presence, "Umm... hi?"

The _**Titan Mage**_ smirked, "You handled them well…I'm impressed. If only we had you around years earlier, you could have saved us millions in jewels in guild repairs considering all the fights that we have around here."

Naruto grinned as he laughed slightly, assuring handling June was not that difficult, "No problem, they're not all that difficult to handle, especially when I tire them out during training." His grin then turned into a smug smirk causing those who had undergone his 'hellish' training to cringe, "I assume you must be the Third Master, Makarov Dreyar? Everyone has told me a lot about you." the blond haired man nodded respectfully to the Third Master, holding out his hand to shake in greeting it, which despite the difference in height wasn't as awkward as most would have thought.

"The pleasure is all mine. I finally get to meet you, and you have my thanks for taking care of my family during our unfortunate disappearance." the Third Master bowed his head in thanks.

Slightly embarrassed, Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. Nodding his head towards Macao and the other members of Fairy Tail who stayed behind, "It's an honor sir, but you don't have to thank me. I was just repaying a kindness." he gestured to the others who all looked on sheepishly, "These guys saved my life, and that alone has earned my loyalty and my help."

Rolling his eyes at the blond's humbleness, Macao walked up behind Naruto and whacked him on the head causing Naruto to reflexively cringe,"You don't have to be so modest Naruto, the Master's complimenting you! Just take the praise and be done with it!"

Naruto scowled at the navy blue-haired mage, but then seeing the grin on the Fourth Master's face caused him to shake his head with a sigh, full knowing that Macao wouldn't let up until he accepted the praise given to him, "Alright then, you're welcome, although I still feel I should be thanking them after everything they've done for me."

"I give up!" Macao raised his hands up to the heavens in mock surrender causing everyone to start laughing at Naruto's modest, humble attitude.

At that moment, a certain pink haired dragonslayer made his presence known, pushing his way past Romeo and June, and pointed a challenging finger at the blond newcomer, "Hey you! Fight me!"

"What?" Naruto stared open mouthed giving a very good fish impression, stunned by Natsu's boldness. Several in the guild facepalmed at Natsu's lack of tact...

Grabbing the back of the pink-haired boy's white scarf, Lucy held him firm from attacking the blond former shinobi without warning, "Give it a rest Natsu!"

Gajeel then got up butting his head against the Fire Dragonslayer in a challenging gesture, "Yeah, we still haven't decided who was going to face him first!"

The blonde haired celestial mage pushed the two apart, her eyes narrowed into a glare,"I said give it a rest already!" upset that Lucy was preventing them from fighting, Natsu and Gajeel returned the glare, causing the three to begin arguing amongst themselves. When the two dragonslayers began wrestling on the floor, Lucy finally gave up and retreated to the far side of the room, which was probably the best decision she could have made as Gray and several others began getting pulled into the brawl. Pretty soon, another decent sized bar fight had included a good majority of the men in the guild, Macao, Wakaba, Makarov, Gryder, Gildarts, and Naruto being the exceptions. Naruto just stared on incredulously as he realized everyone else was taking this as if this was an everyday occurrence, which he then realized it probably was, as well as realizing all the stories that he thought were exaggerations were actually true.

Naruto asked shyly, "Are they really always like this…?" Macao and Makarov nodded in confirmation, weeping over the destruction of what remained of the guildhall. Upon realizing that this was the guild getting back into old routines, Naruto decided to turn to his favorite of comfort foods. "Kinana, could you get me some ramen?" the blond former shinobi asked with a look of great discomfort on his face.

Giving him a empathizing glance, Kinana replied, "I'll have it up in a moment Naruto."

"Thanks, you're the best!" Naruto grinned in reply, but then shook his head as he watched the chaos that had been brought about by the fight, "I'll be downstairs. If you could bring it down to the library when it's ready, that would be great. Oh, and please tell Tony that I'm in there when he get's back. I've got some new alchemy texts that he may want to look at." He gestured to his bag as he said this, and Kinana's eyes widened slightly and smiled knowingly. Tony would definitely be pleased, as he was always interested in expanding his personal section of the library.

"Sure Naruto!" Kinana replied with a nod, and Naruto, with his years of practice as a ninja, snuck out without really anyone noticing him leaving, everyone else being distracted watching the fight. The exception being the Third Master, who ran his hand through his snow white mustache with a curious expression on his face. Makarov decided to follow the young man down to where the library was. If it had been any of the others, the young man would be right in the thick of things, but there seemed to be a certain distance, a sense that although Naruto seemed to be close to those left behind, he kept everyone at arms length.

Of course, there had been many such individuals in Fairy Tail who were known to distance themselves as a result of a painful past, but all were treated as family, all were loved, all were welcomed with open arms, and all eventually opened up. In his eighty-eight (or was it technically ninety-five?) years, Makarov knew the signs well enough from just observing the short interaction that Naruto had with the others, and his suspicions were confirmed after finding out that even though the blond had been a member for over three years, there was very little to go on from what Macao and the others had told him about the blond shinobi.

Heading toward the basement door, Makarov followed the blond to the new archives, and was pleasantly surprised to see that it just as large as the old archives, which he thought would have been lost to them after the guildhall had been repossessed. He wandered the shelves, noting that many of the books that were in the archives from seven years ago were held here, as well as many new titles and records detailing missions and other such information that had been added during their absence.

It reminded him of the original archive room that had been destroyed in the war with the Phantom Lord guild, but with more reading space that included desks and tables, but also a sofa and some lounge chairs. The bookshelves were also lined up in rows not just against the walls. However, what was most peculiar about this new library was at the far side from the bottom of the basement steps were two double doors with a heavy lock and chain barring anyone from entry. However, he was startled out of his thoughts when all of a sudden Naruto spoke up from behind him.

Naruto came out from behind a shelf carrying a couple of books in his arms, "If you are wondering about how most of the archives is still in our possession, the Magnolia City Library was kindly willing to store it for us until we could build this place."

Shocked and startled, the old Third Master clutched his heart, "Dear God, my boy! You scared me! I almost died!"

The blue eyed blond laughed, teasing the older man, "Sorry, Master! I was one to play pranks as a kid, I just couldn't resist!"

Makarov sighed releasing a breath to get his wits back, "Please refrain from doing that in the future, I'm old!"

Naruto smirked, and proceeded to sit down at one of the desks turning the green reading lamp on and opening one of his books, "Your following skills could use some work, but then again there aren't many who can sneak up on me anymore!"

"Oh really? Is that a challenge?" Makarov raised his eyebrow, curious at how the blond would respond.

"No, it's not a challenge. It's fact. When you can sense the presence of every living thing within a ten kilometer radius, sneaking up on other people is just too easy and entertaining to watch when they try to get back at you. Just don't tell Romeo that... everyone knows except him, and they all love it when I return one of his pranks back on him."

Makarov's eyes widened at Naruto's nonchalant statement about his abilities, and about the joke about Romeo. Maybe his assumptions were wrong about the child? "That's... incredibly useful."

"Indeed it is...saved my life more than once that's for sure..." the blond replied wistfully, and motioned to the entrance of the basement for Makarov to watch, and he pulled out a text from his bag, one of the _**Alchemy**_ textbooks that he had found for the young _**Alchemy**_ mage who picked a fight with Gajeel.

Sure enough a moment later, steps were heard, and Tony's voice called out, "Sensei, are you down here? Kinana sent me down here with your ramen, and she said you had another book for me?"

"Over here, near the almanacs, Tony. I'm looking up things for our mission tomorrow..." the blond replied as he began looking down at his book, writing some notes down on a pad of notebook paper as he did.

"Alright...I guess you want me to-Master Makarov!" Not seeing the Third Master sitting right next to Naruto, Tony exclaimed, his voice raised in panic.

Makarov smirked slightly as he stared down the shorter than average fifteen year old even though he was much shorter than the brown haired boy, "Hello! I am pleased to see you have such a fiery spirit! Not many would openly challenge Gajeel like you did today!" Tony's face reddened in embarrassment, and he mumbled curses and expletives against Gajeel as he remembered how Gajeel teased him about his height.

Naruto, however, took this all in stride by also staring at the mage with a raised eyebrow and held out his hand gesturing to the food product that Tony had brought down. "Tony, while you are muttering about vengeance against a man who is both twice your size, weight, and most definitely experience, can I please have my ramen?"

Releasing himself from his grumblings, Tony glared at Naruto and shouted, "I'M NOT SHORT!"

The blond twenty-two year old murmured nonchalantly, and continued to write down notes of specific importance related to the job he was taking, "I never said you were short...my ramen is getting cold…"

Huffing indignantly, Tony handed the ramen to his sensei and he didn't dare spill it just to mock the blond, Naruto would just make him miserable later to get back at him. He crossed his arms and pouted again,"No one cares about my struggle…."

Taking the bowl of ramen from Tony, Naruto broke apart the chopsticks that Kinana had so graciously provided and began talking while he ate, "Hey, I care! I was the shortest kid in my class, thank you very much! I just care about ramen more!"

Makarov replied, rolling his eyes at the Alchemist's ranting,"And I'm shorter than you! So stop complaining!"

Tony began crying dramatic tears as he wandered further into the library, "Jerks! No one cares about my struggle! I'll be in the Lab if you need to make fun of me more..." causing Makarov to raise his eyebrows in question and turning to the blond haired man curiously.

"Lab?"

"Research __lab, beyond the locked double doors." Naruto gestured to the back of the library, "No one is permitted inside unless authorized by Tony, Macao, or myself. Didn't Macao tell you yesterday?"

Makarov grinned sheepishly, "No...we were too busy celebrating…"

The blond haired former shinobi laughed lightly, "No harm done...Tony experiments in there for his alchemy research, and I sometimes use it for my own purposes as well. There is a lot of dangerous stuff in there, and we don't want anyone getting hurt."

The eighty-eight year old Master nodded seriously, "I understand. I'll let the others know later. I'll make sure that they don't mess around. I'm sure Erza will take up the job of keeping the others in line now that we're back."

Putting his hands behind his head, Naruto leaned back in his chair, "She holds a lot of respect around here, doesn't she?" 

The aged wizard nodded, showing great respect for the woman in question, "I'm sure you've probably heard that she was the strongest female wizard in Fairy Tail seven years ago."

The blond nodded, laughing slightly as he thought about the crazy antics of the returning members, "Yeah, I have, but seeing it firsthand was...interesting. Not just her, but to be honest, I thought everyone was exaggerating when they would talk about you guys. I mean seriously, almost the whole guildhall was involved in that fight!"

Makarov grinned, and began laughing uproariously,"Aww, you'll fit right in soon enough, my boy!" But then his tone turned serious as he realized that Naruto had seemed surprised by the fight, "But wait, you've never seen a Fairy Tail bar fight before?"

Naruto snorted, an incredulous stare as his answer, "The only fights that would happen at least since I came around were the ones that June and Tony would start, and it would just be them, not the whole guild!"

Makarov sighed, his gaze turning regretful and sad as he began to realize what seven years of their absence had done to their beloved guild, "I guess it can't be helped. Natsu or one of the others would usually be the one to cause a fight for the fun of it. You do realize that once he realizes that you have left, he's going to continue searching for you and challenge you to a fight whether you want to or not?"

"Great…" Naruto sighed with exasperation, he really didn't want to deal with this right now causing Makarov to question the blond regarding the former shinobi's despondency regarding Natsu wanting to challenge the blond.

"You don't seem to happy about that...may I ask why?"

Naruto turned sad and his eyes became filled with memories of his old home, "I really don't like to fight anymore...the things that I have seen and done and the people I've lost, well…"

"I understand…" the Third Guild master's gaze turned to one of solemn respect.

Naruto took a deep breath and began explaining, "I fought in two full scale wars, and was a leading figure for both of them. In my last fight before I came here, I had hoped to finish it once and for all, and bring an end to my people's violence, but then with no real way to get home brought an end to that."

Rubbing his mustache as he thought about Naruto's incredible, almost unbelievable situation, which he probably wouldn't have believed if not for the fact that one of their own was also from another world, and Natsu, Lucy, and the several others actually visited said world seven years ago, "Macao explained that to me last night...is there any possible way for you to return?"

The blond shinobi shook his head, "If there is...I don't know how, and I don't know where to look. I'm not going to waste anymore time trying to get back when I don't even know where to start."

"You've given up?"

Naruto sighed again (he really was doing that a lot today), "No, but in considering on how I have searched and used almost every available resource that me and my contacts that I have made here can think of, I think it's best to admit that my chances of returning home are very slim at best." Naruto sat back in his chair, looking despondent and frustrated rubbing his forehead, "No, If I'm meant to find a way to get home, it'll be through the helping of others, at least that's what I think."

Makarov relented as he saw the expression on the young man who just wanted to get on in his life, but still the octogenarian guild master asked, "Are you sure? I might have some resources that might be able to help you..."

With a sad smile, Naruto confirmed he had had enough with his dauntless searching, "No old man, I'm done. I hated staying in the library as a kid, and now that I've become an adult, I do it only because I have to. With my _**Shadow Clones**_ , I've spent approximately a hundred years searching for a way back. I'm kind of tired of looking."

Makarov sighed reluctantly, hoping that he could somehow help the blond young man after everything Naruto did in protecting Fairy Tail during his absence, "I wish there was something that I could do to help you, Naruto...was it?"

"Yeah...it means "Malestrom", and my clan name is Uzumaki, which means "of the Spiral." It took some getting used to putting my name before my clan name." Naruto said smiling a bit more now that they were changing the subject to something much more pleasant than his inability to get home.

The Third Master grinned and shook the blond's hand once again,"Well then, again I would like to officially welcome you to Fairy Tail, and I thank you so much for taking care of my children these past three years while we were gone...I really can't express my gratitude enough." causing Naruto to nod slightly in thanks.

"As I said before, I am repaying a kindness that they gave to me when they didn't have to."

Wanting to get away from the depressing conversation from before as well, Makarov turned to trying to understand the blond's abilities, "Before you arrived I was discussing things with Doranbolt, and he has revealed some of the things you and your team have done...I am correct in my assumption from what you just told me that you were a soldier before all of this?"

Naruto nodded in confirmation,"To be accurate, I was a ninja, but most of the cloak and dagger stuff that you would associate with the shinobi lifestyle was done more by the ANBU Black Ops. For me, I was a frontline fighter, so you would be correct. However, my teacher was the leading information gathering and intelligence specialist within my village so I was also trained in that. Because of this I have been able to establish an information network throughout all of Earthland."

Becoming serious, Makarov frowned in thought over this revelation of what Naruto had managed to do. An established information network would be extremely helpful in regards to what was going on in the world making jobs safer, especially if the circumstances surrounding the job were unstable or volatile, "Hmm...impressive. Regarding the current circumstances in which Jura Neekis from Lamia Scale has informed me when he met us yesterday, as well as what Doranbolt and I discussed earlier, that will be most helpful in the future regarding the current stirrings in the Magic Underworld…"

Naruto nodded, knowing full well that things had begun to pick up once again, with the dark guild that Naruto, Mest, and Warren were all sent to investigate being just the latest of thirteen incidents since the beginning of the year alone. It was suspicious, especially after almost seven years of relative silence, and it was becoming more and more obvious that something was being stirred in the magic criminal underworld. "I have made it my top priority for my contacts to notify me of anything out of the ordinary regarding movements from the Barram Alliance, or what's left of it, and other dark guilds. I can pretty much guarantee that we will be the first to know if anything suspicious happens with any dark guild activity. We can't allow them to get away with whatever they're planning this time."

The old wizard grunted, understanding that this was very good news for Fairy Tail. Far too often were many of his children caught off guard on missions because of a lack of information, which often got them in situations that led to them going overboard, resulting in massive amounts of damage and dreaded paperwork (of course with some of his children they just went overboard regardless), "Good work. Though, how do you expect to get past the Inter-Guild Conflict Ban?"

The blond haired man smirked slightly, speaking about one particular change that happened during the seven year absence, "With authorization from the High Court of Kings, of course."

Makarov stuttered in disbelief, "What?!"

The shinobi crossed his arms and began discussing the situation regarding the Ishgar monarchies who even superseded the power of the Magic Council, "The Magic Council wasn't very happy when the High Court made that announcement, but the High Court finally had enough with the lack of progress regarding the reigning in of dark guild activity. They ordered the Magic Council to make special considerations allowing legal guilds to begin taking on dark guilds if they encountered them with fewer repercussions. The Magic Council was forced to concede when it became obvious that the Rune Knights, the international military forces, along with the Local Guild Leagues were in full support of the measure because it allowed greater freedom for us to mandate self-defense of local communities and provided more manpower for the Rune Knights and the Military in law enforcement."

Makarov scoffed as he thought about the Magic Council, an organization that had become far too bureaucratic, corrupt, and controlling regarding the Magical World, "Those old, senile fools had it coming for a long time...I'm surprised that it had taken this long for the High Court to do anything about it!"

Naruto shared sentiments with Makarov, and although he was good friends with Mest's friend Lahar, a Rune Knight captain and influential member of the Council, Naruto's opinions regarding the Magic Council were mostly negative. "I may be relatively new to Fiore, but I know well enough it had probably had something to do with Acnologia and Zeref. Fairy Tail, as much as it is disliked by the Magic Council, was well respected by many people, and the fact that Acnologia and Zeref were both confirmed to be involved with your disappearance…" Naruto trailed off in his explanation where the old wizard picked up where the blond left off.

"...The High Court had to intervene going against their traditional policy of non-interference. If they didn't, all of Ishgar would have rioted..."

Naruto nodded in agreement, "As a result, a number of dark guilds have come out of the woodwork. You'll probably hear about it at the next regular meeting. The other guilds will probably want to hear some of the recent news that I have, so Macao and I will help you catch up on events in the past seven years..."

Makarov closed his eyes in thought, considering a meeting of the Ten Wizard Saints that was to be held later that month, "Jura informed me of a summit with the Wizard Saints. Should I also inform them of anything in particular regarding these movements?"

"Please do, I'll provide you a detailed report regarding recent information from my contacts as the summit approaches. I'll do my best to keep you updated." Naruto smiled shaking the hand of the Third Master.

"Very well then. When can you have that report done?"

Rubbing his chin in thought for a moment, Naruto responded with his estimation of when he would be able to get the document to Makarov,"It will have to be done after my job which will take about three days to a week, so I'm thinking by the beginning of next week I'll get it to you. I'd advise you to get everyone resettled in first, and then we can go into the details."

The old wizard cringed as he thought about the situation that most if not all the absent mages had yet to realize. Many of them had apartments with seven years of overdue rent, if those apartments hadn't been cleared out yet, "Yes, that's going to be a problem." causing Naruto to give the Third Master and empathizing glance.

"Don't worry. You guys will adjust. Fairy Tail is nothing if not enduring. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Your absence was devastating, but everyone who remained here during the seven years held on doing the best they could. If anything, it brought them closer together."

Makarov became quiet looking all of his age with a somber expression on his face. He was grieved that those left behind had to endure great hardship during his absence, but accepted Naruto's words of encouragement, "Thank you..."

The two continued to talk for a while, discussing a number of other subjects for the next hour, until finally the blond sighed as he finished his ramen and stood up. "Okay, I think that's everything for now." He was so busy talking he hadn't realized he actually let his ramen get cold. He proceeded to pick up the books he had taken and placed them in the return slot where they would be put away later. He turned off his reading lamp, picked up his now empty bowl, and was about to head upstairs before Makarov spoke once again.

"You're going back upstairs?"

"I need to do the job briefing for Tony, June, and Romeo for tomorrow. Speaking of which…" and Naruto turned around and walked to the back of the Archives to the entrance to the Lab. Slamming his fist on the door several times, he called out, "Hey Tony! I need you upstairs so we can go over the details for the job tomorrow!"

There was silence for a minute, followed by a sound of what sounded like several things getting knocked over followed by several curses and cries of pain. When the door finally opened up, Tony was looking slightly worse for wear, his clothes ruffled and he was rubbing a large bump on his head.

"This is not my day…" the alchemist groaned.

The blond's eye twitched in annoyance as Naruto shook his head knowing exactly what had happened to the fifteen year old and as soon as he saw the teen open the door he slammed his fist on to the teen's head causing Tony to groan and complain in protest again.

"What the heck Naruto! What was that for?!"

The blond haired former shinobi glared and began lecturing the younger teen,"I specifically told you before I left two weeks ago to keep it clean in there! Those bumps on your head should teach you to clean up after yourself! You can do that after our briefing, in fact you will do that before you head home tonight or else you will suffer through my cooking and you will lose Lab privileges for a week!"

Crossing his arms in defiance, Tony pouted childishly, "So cruel…you're mean sensei!"

Naruto held up his hands furiously, "I'm not the only one who has complained about this Tony! Macao, Kinana, and Wakaba have all talked to you about this for the past month! Clean up the Lab or you will be banned from it!"

Tony glared, but finally sulked and muttered, "Fine…" and the boy stormed up the steps up to the Guildhall.

Naruto sighed and rubbed the back of his head in irritation, "If this is what being a parent feels like, then I really am better off alone…" and began walking with the Third Master following Tony upstairs.

In response, Makarov laughed at the blond haired man's misfortune knowing full well how the former shinobi felt as he had to deal with disciplining the guild on a regular basis, "They always give you trouble don't they?"

"I now feel sorry for my teachers, especially after everything I put them through. If they knew what I have to put up with in regards to Tony _alone_ , they'd just laugh in my face and shout "It's Karma!"

Makarov just laughed again causing the blond former shinobi to grumble angrily,"When that boy moves out of my apartment, all of Fiore will know about it because I will probably party for a week straight!"

Makarov looked at him surprised as they followed the teenaged alchemist upstairs, "He lives with you?"

"I took him in after his father passed away. The story is too long to go into right now, and you'll probably hear about it from one of the others before you hear me talk about it." Naruto sighed sadly, his gaze becoming nostalgic as memories began passing by his eyes, "Dr. Riviera became a good friend of mine as he was helping me in my research for a way back home, and since Tony had nowhere else to go, I invited him to join Fairy Tail, and offered him a place to stay because there was no way he would have been able to support himself with there not being enough missions for everyone." The expression on Naruto's face told Makarov that the blond didn't really want to talk anymore about the subject, so the old wizard quietly nodded letting the blond have his space.

As the two entered the guildhall once again, they saw that the mess created by the earlier brawl had mostly been cleaned up and had noticed that everyone had gone back to celebrating and catching up.

However, as they reached the top step and entered the guild's barroom, Tony's voice could be heard calling, "Romeo! June! Sensei's going to brief us on the job for tomorrow!" Immediately grabbing the attention of several people, including a pink-haired dragonslayer who then immediately charged at the blond, but was barely being held back by Lucy.

"Thanks a lot Tony…" Naruto muttered and he stepped right behind the fifteen year old alchemist causing the boy to cringe as a dark aura emanated off of the blond shinobi.

"He-he...whoops?" Tony laughed nervously as he turned around to face his sensei who glared at him.

"I really don't want to have to deal with this right now..." the blond former shinobi muttered under his breath as Natsu continued to try and break free from Lucy, "Natsu, I really have to get this job briefing done for tomorrow."

"No! I want to fight now!"

"NATSU!" a certain red-haired swordswoman snapped, who not even looking up from her strawberry cake, caused Natsu to cringe and quietly sit down.

While this was all happening, June berated Tony for annoying Naruto by attracting attention to him, something which Tony hated, "Nice going doofus…"

In protest, Tony exclaimed, "What did I do?!

Rolling her eyes, the brown haired girl scoffed,"You put him in a bad mood, that's what!"

Not wanting to deal with another argument, albeit unsuccessfully, Romeo set them both off by growling out, "Enough you lovebirds, just shut up!"

"WE AREN'T LOVEBIRDS!" the two shouted at Romeo which then caused all three of them to defuse into childish bickering.

Coughing to get their attention, Naruto's tone of voice hinted at annoyance, "If you three are done acting like idiots, I would like to get this over with… unless you guys wanted to train while I'm gone, and I can do the mission by myself leaving you here?"

The three looked sheepish as they stood at attention, "Sorry, sir."

Naruto shaking his head and sighed, but proceeded with the job briefing, unaware as the rest of the guild began listening to him, "Good...let's get started then. The job is located in Twilight Town, so we'll be taking the early train at six o'clock tomorrow. Do not be late, especially you June!" at this, Naruto looked pointedly at Wakaba and Cecilia's daughter who looked slightly embarrassed over her accidental sleeping in on a particular mission a couple of weeks ago, and as a result the team last time missed their train and were unable to do the job.

June abashed replied in a subdued tone, "I won't…"

Naruto gazed at her, but continued, "I've contacted the client-Mayor Albright, and he says that there has been a startling increase in the Vulcan population near the area. Our job will be to wipe them out. It shouldn't take us more than a couple of days at most, but pack up enough supplies to last a week. Make sure your first-aid kits are stocked, especially you Romeo. I don't want you to end up unprepared this time."

"Sorry Naruto." the purple haired boy muttered as he and the others remembered a couple of months ago that he almost died, not because of him getting into a fight or just getting injured on the job, but because he got stung by a bee. Romeo's body, unknowingly being severely allergic, shut-down and went into critical condition in mere seconds. Thankfully, they were in a town and someone actually understood what was happening before Romeo died. Ever since then, Naruto, Macao, and every other adult in the guild made it their personal mission to make sure that Romeo never went without an Antidote Lacrima, even if it was by annoying him through constantly reminding him.

Tony spoke up at this, "Do we need any camping gear?"

The former shinobi shook his head, "No...room and board will be provided by the client, but still bring some sleeping bags just in case." the three young mages let out relieved sighs, happy to know that they wouldn't be camping out, "Oh and be sure to bring with you the anti-possession bracelets that I made you guys."

"Right!"

The blond shinobi turned to the Fourth guildmaster's son, "Romeo, you will be team leader this time…Tony and June got their chance already so now it's your turn again. Think you can do it?"

Giving his teacher a thumbs up and a wide grin, "You bet!"

Slapping the young mage on the back slightly, Naruto said, "Good man!" He then turned to female member of the team, "June, have you mastered the fourth spell I showed you?"

The brown haired girl nodded, "It took some practice, but I've just about got it down."

"Is it battle ready?" The blond's expression became serious as he discussed June's magic repertoire as it took a lot of concentration and control to prevent her accidentally from exploding things, a common problem ever since she began learning magic.

Wakaba had realized early on that June had inherited some of his family's powerful magic, which tended to skip several generations at a time. At first, it was very problematic given that natural _ **Void Magic**_ was so rare, and that Wakaba's family had lost most of the information required to fully train June. In the end really, despite all the joking and craziness that June plagued her father with in regarding his parenting techniques, it was the real reason why June was allowed to become a wizard in the first place. Despite the conflict Wakaba had with his wife on several issues (his pervetedness and her bossiness), they were good parents who knew that June needed to learn how to control her powers, otherwise she would be controlled by them which neither of them wanted for her.

Naruto had managed to find some books detailing _**Void Magic**_ through his contacts and researching at the Grand Magic Library, but even now there was still the occasional incident where June would lose control of her temper and would cause an explosion by accident. It was, however, much better than _before_ June started training because she just couldn't stop causing destruction around her even by accident.

Putting a finger to her chin in thought, she answered Naruto thinking about her latest spell, "I think so, but it would be best not to use it too often. It _might_ explode in my face…"

Naruto nodded, and the turned to Tony and asked, "Okay, that's a yes unless an emergency. Tony, did you finish that new array?"

The _**Alchemist**_ grinned, excited at the thought of the new circle he and Naruto had been working on before his last mission, "I've yet to test it, so this might be a good chance to do so…"

The blond haired man smiled slightly and nodded, "Bring it with you tomorrow then. Now remember, I will only be supervising, I won't actually be fighting with you guys unless you get into trouble which knowing you guys, I doubt."

The guild watched enchanted as Naruto instructed the younger mages with authority, acting in a capacity that none of them had ever seen before. It took a moment for the absent members to realize why he was doing this. He was ensuring that they were getting experience quickly, but not at the cost of safety and taking unnecessary risks. They also noticed that he was emphasizing teamwork and structure by setting each of them into a particular role and rotating the leadership position so that each one had a chance to lead encouraging collective and individual responsibility.

Cana looked on, an awed smile on her lips, "He's good…"

Lucy muttered, "He's sensible...and sane unlike everyone else here…" but across from her, Max grinned and shook his head in a way that tossed that thought out the window.

"Oh, Naruto's definitely not sane in the least, considering what he does during training…" the blond sand mage's grin turned into a mischeivious smirk, "Trust me, you'll see!"

While they were conversing, June asked Naruto, "Hey sensei? Wendy and I were talking, and would it be okay if she and Carla could come along?"

Naruto smiled knowing her intentions, but shook his head, "I would advise against that right now June."

Pouting, the void mage whined, "Aww, but why?"

Romeo rolled his eyes, and spoke, "June, let her get resettled in first! It's been only two days since she came back!"

"Oh yeah…"

The blond haired man turned to the _Sky Dragonslayer_ and said, "Maybe next time you can come Wendy. Romeo, Tony, and June have worked together on missions for as long as Tony has been here, so they work really well together despite how much it appears that they don't." As Naruto said this, the three young mages glared at him, angry at his insinuation, but a single look from him made them realize how immature they were being and that he was simply stating the truth.

With the briefing finished, Macao took a deep breath and began discussing the particular subject that he had been avoiding for the past two days, "In regards to settling in, and I hate to be the one to do this, but we need to figure out what to do regarding your living situations. We need to discuss this...those of you who were at Fairy Hills, your things haven't been touched. I have discussed this with Ruchio and he is willing to forgive the debt, but everyone else..."

At this, Lucy panicked, "What about my apartment?!"

Laughing slightly, Wakaba answered, "Lucky for you Lucy, your father has been taking care of that."

The blonde haired Celestial Spirit mage's eyes widened, as she had been on bad terms since she last spoke to her father seven years ago. That her father still believed that she was alive after all this time was a shock to her."What?!" she exclaimed.

The Fourth Master, knowing of the bad relationship that she had with her father, and knowing he was responsible for the Phantom Lord War, picked up where Wakaba had left off, "Yes, he comes by every once in a while to reminisce and talk about you. You should go visit him when you get a chance, he..." the cobalt-haired mage murmmered in sad nostaligia as he thought of the man's selfless efforts to take care of his daughter's affairs while she was gone even though there was a chance that she was dead, "...never lost faith and always believed that you were alive somewhere. He's been covering your rent for the past seven years."

Stunned, Lucy Heartfilia was almost at a loss for words, and still in shock murmmered,"Dad...did that?"

While everyone was reeling at the revelation, the ice wizard Gray asked, "What about the rest of us?"

Maccao shook his head, knowing that there was going to be a bit of trouble for the others regarding lodgings, "I'm sorry to say this, everyone else is not as lucky as Lucy is. We put everything in storage, unless of course you owned a house. We've done upkeep for them while you were gone, but if you had an apartment, we had to move you guys out..."

Erza, speaking on behalf of those who had been lost, spoke in gratitude, knowing that the decisions made during their absence were hard ones to make, "Thank you Macao. You didn't have to do this for us. We understand entirely that this was a difficult situation for all of you."

Everyone remained silent for several minutes, even Natsu was uncharacteristically silent. They all thought about what must have been endured during their seven years of absence. It was then Naruto nodded to Maccao and a silent conversation was held between them. Seeing that the Fourth Guildmaster gave him permission to speak, the blond haired spoke up, "We didn't want you guys to know, but it has to be said that things have changed while you guys were gone."

Levy McGarden asked, her eyes still downcast, but she remained inquisitve, "What do you mean?"

Knowing where this was going and not wanting them to go down this dark road, Alzack exclaimed, "Naruto...we can't let them know about all that!"

However, Maccao shook his head, and his voice gained the attention of everyone in the room, "No...they need to know. If we keep secrets now, it will only hurt us in the long run. Naruto's right, they have to know."

Makarov turned serious, not liking his sucessor's words,"Know what?" But Maccao didn't speak.

Here, surprisingly, Jet walked over to Laki. She was uncharacteristically shaking, as if terrified, and looked sick to her stomach. Jet held her hand and squeezed it, and this action did not go unnoticed by those left behind. He nodded to Maccao, and Maccao understood that it was okay to continue.

The blue haired guildmaster began speaking, his tone subdued and downcast, "You are already aware that things were bad enough after you disappeared that the original guildhall was repossessed, but I don't think any of you are fully aware of the full extent of the damage with what happened in the past seven years and why so many familiar faces are no longer around."

Those left behind looked towards each other in worry. The cheerful man that they had known seven years before no longer held the bright spark that he once did. Turning to the others who had been left behind, they saw that a solemn sadness had fallen upon the room.

Maccao, a tear falling down his face, as his voice began to break, "The fact is...three years ago Fairy Tail nearly died."


End file.
